The internet menace

CEBU, Philippines -  The boy admitted he used to open pornographic sites. Such sites were readily accessible back when internet shops were lenient and just a click on the tab that says "If you're 18" would get him through. He was only10 years old then, but found it so easy to pretend he was already of legal age; it was just a matter of hitting his mouse.

His smutty journey began in chat-rooms, where he first watched "live shows." At the start he would laugh looking at foreigners playing with their private parts on-cam. At first, he said, he thought those guys were nuts. Later on, watching internet "live shows" was becoming common among his small circle of fellow young online chatters. It came to a point that they were no longer scandalized to see both men or both women kissing. They also watched webcast of women doing nude shows, he further admitted.

On the other hand, a hearing-impaired girl was swayed to go on an eyeball (face-to-face encounter) with someone she met online. After communicating constantly in a free online chatting site, they exchanged mobile numbers. When 14-year-old Dorcas (not her real name) was invited for a date-out, she agreed to meet the guy at a mall.

They "talked" over a meal. As the guy could not communicate in sign language, he would key in his message on the screen of his mobile phone and show it to Dorcas. One message read that the guy wanted to take the girl to his house, purportedly to meet his parents, to which the girl agreed. But she was taken to a lodge, instead. The love story ended up in the news - another case of child abuse!

Such incidents inspire the lobbying for child-lock features in computer programs. But many of today's children already know their way around the restriction. Their wide exposure to computers and the internet has made them expert hackers. They can do it on their own, without need for help from adults.

Moreover, computer equipment and tools have already become cheaper that more and more households now have the device. The attractive promos by telecommunications companies for quick and affordable home internet connection further enable the talons of cybersex to reach the kids at home.

It is frightening, indeed, because the young ones can now be victimized even in the confines of home. What's even more frightening is the fact that some parents aren't alarmed at all, feeling secure in the thought that the kids aren't really in danger since online sexual predators won't be able to actually touch them; thus, the kids are safe from contracting venereal disease.

Lawyer Joan Saniel Amit, executive director of the Children's Legal Bureau in Cebu, confirmed the existence of such convoluted parental mindset, particularly referring to parents in the town of Cordova, who were involved in the cybersex trade using their own children. Atty. Amit lamented the fact that the parents saw nothing wrong in letting the children pose naked before the camera, there being no actual physical contact with their foreigner customers.

This scary downside of technological advancement prompted the observance of Safer Internet Day every February 14, which runs on its 11th year already. The purpose of the observance is to call for a safer virtual environment for children; to ensure that they grow up to become responsible adults and law-abiding citizens.